Cars marked with huge spray paint numbers of 71, 72 and 73 were all pulled out Monday from behind the Boys and Girls Club in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Many of the cars, stolen or ditched due to insurance fraud, have been down in the murky water for decades.

The cars pulled Monday included a Jeep, Mitsubishi and Firebird from the '90s. During our necn investigation, our cameras have documented keys still left in the ignition and found decades later the cars are still burping oil and gas into the environment.

Cleaning Up the Junkyard River

It’s a team of divers and volunteers from Clean River Project cleaning up the river near Lawrence, Methuen and Haverhill. Monday was a big step forward as they brought in huge boulders to block any more cars from being slipped into hiding in the river.

In August, necn Investigates first walked the banks of the river with Clean River Project founder Rocky Morrison. The group was about to shut down then due to lack of funding.